EDEN

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It has long been imagined that Eden would become a major port town – but that major port has never materialised.

The first Europeans documented to have visited the area were the survivors of the Sydney Cove that had been wrecked on what was to become known as Preservation Island in Bass Strait just north of the north-east tip of Tasmania. They then used a longboat to sail across Bass Strait to the middle of Ninety Mile Beach in Gippsland, Victoria, and then set out to walk about 700 kilometres to Sydney. As they passed Twofold Bay at the end of March 1797 or in the first few days of April 1797, they would not have been much concerned about the potential for the area – they were simply walking to survive! (The story of their remarkable journey is vividly told in Mark McKenna’s ‘From the Edge: Australia’s Lost Histories’ and in Recollections 47.)

It is possible that whalers had previously visited the area, because they are recorded to have been operating along the NSW South Coast from as early as 1791, but no detailed records of their activities have been located.

George Bass is recorded as the first European to have shown a real interest in Twofold Bay. On the return leg of a voyage from Sydney to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), he took shelter in (and named) Snug Cove. That was in February 1798.

Later, in September that same year, he returned with Matthew Flinders and the pair spent four days surveying the bay while waiting for favourable weather so they could continue their voyage south to circumnavigate Van Diemen’s Land. They also made contact with the local Thawa Aboriginals.

The first European to settle in the area was Captain Thomas Raine. In 1828 he established the first shore-based whaling station on the Australian mainland at Twofold Bay.

In 1834, Doctors Alexander, George and Peter Imlay set up a whaling station at Snug Cove. Nearby they built a small slab and bark hut. This was to be the first-known building erected in what was to become the township of Eden.

That same year, government approval was given to establish a township at Twofold Bay, ‘The Australian’ recording on June 3, 1834:

‘Twofold Day, it is understood, is to be forthwith colonized, the officials being employed to make a survey of the harbour with the view of fixing upon the site of the projected settlement. Captain King, the Australian circumnavigator, goes in the Man-o-War, and will lend the aid of his experience in selecting the most eligible spot for the commencement of a town, which we may venture to prophecy will be one of the most important on the eastern coast of Australia. It has been a matter of surprise that Twofold Bay has not long since been formed into a station under Government, if not public settlement. It possesses numerous advantages in itself, as well as forming a half-way house between Sydney and Van Deimen’s Land (sic); it is a safe and accessible harbour, although confined; there is plenty of good wood and water in the immediate vicinity; there is also good land and pasturing; it is the entrance of the finest grazing country in Australia, towards which the communication by water extends a considerable distance; it is situated in the most delightful latitude, so very picturesque in its adjacent scenery, and when steamboats begin to ply along our coast to Van Deimen’s Land (which will no doubt soon happen), Twofold Bay will be the most important situation on our coast after Port Jackson.’

It was not until 1842 that the survey was made of the proposed town by the Government Surveyor, Thomas Townsend. The town itself, and the County in which it is situated, were named after the British Secretary for the Colonies, George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland. Imlay Street (the main street of the town) was named after the Imlay brothers; Flinders and Bass Streets after the pioneering explorers; Victoria Terrace and Albert Terrace after the then reigning monarch and her consort; Calle Street and Cocora Street are derivations of Aboriginal words; Chandos Street is believed to be associated with an English family at the time the survey was undertaken.

In 1843 the first sale of land was authorised. Early purchasers included Benjamin Boyd, Jas. Kirwan, W. Hirst, J. P. Robinson, Thos. Aspinall, Lewis Gordon, T. A. Townsend, and S. Clinton.

Meanwhile, entrepreneur Benjamin Boyd, who was also impressed by Twofold Bay’s ‘capabilities as a Harbour and site for a town’, decided to establish a centre nearby. He purchased land on the southern shore of Twofold Bay for his extensive whaling, shipping and pastoral interests, and erected a house there in 1842. Other buildings in ‘Boydtown’ were subsequently added; the Seahorse Inn and a Church, most notably, now survive.

However, Boyd’s financial situation worsened and Boydtown declined in importance, providing a boost to the development of nearby Eden.

The discovery of gold at Kiandra in 1859 then resulted in a more rapid growth of Eden as hundreds of gold-seekers landed at Twofold Bay, purchased supplies in Eden and then trekked to Kiandra…only to return later when winter blizzards swept through that area and the Kiandra goldfields worked-out. By the late 1850s/early 1860s there were four hotels in Eden. A post-office (which opened in 1847) and a government school (established in 1857) were also operating in the town. At one stage Eden supported a population of 4,000 – but the envisioned port still failed to be developed. (Eden’s population is now around 3,150.)

Peter Imlay had been grazing cattle on land adjacent to Snug Cove and until 1853 – when Eden township was extended and the land was subdivided for housing – on Lookout Point south-east of the town. He was exporting cattle to Tasmania (he had a contract to supply meat to the Government for the convicts and others dependent upon the Government for food supplies) from what became known as Cattle Bay (the bay next along from Snug Cove; a fish processing works was later erected here – see below) where a wharf was built out into the cove. The export of cattle from Eden later extended to South Australia, Queensland and New Zealand, and continued until the later years in the 1890s.

Eden’s transportation lifeline was provided by regular steamer services operated by the Illawarra and South Coast Steam Navigation Company and the companies that preceded it. This company provided Eden with a link, for both passengers and cargo, to other South Coast towns and to Sydney, Launceston and Hobart, and New Zealand…at least until 1928 when the ss'Merimbula' ran ashore on Beecroft Head, after which its ships servicing the South Coast no longer carried passengers.

If there was an era in which the Eden port (and therefore Eden township itself) could have been massively developed, it was this era of the steamships. Roads to and from Eden were rudimentary, so for most people travel by ship was the only feasible way of getting to or from the area. However, little port infrastructure was added, and insufficient industry or primary industry was developed in or around the town to attract any large number of ships.

In August 1891 three Josephite nuns arrived in Eden to establish the Convent of St Joseph and a Catholic school. This fulfilled a promise by Sr Mary MacKillop (later Saint Mary MacKillop) whose mother was drowned when the Ly-ee-moon ran aground near Green Cape in 1886. The convent and school rapidly became part of the social fabric of the town. St Josephs Primary School operated until 2011.

Just after Federation in 1901, Eden was seriously assessed to become the site for the new Australian capital – the then-new hotel in town even being optimistically named the Hotel Australasia in anticipation of this happening. Its (relatively undeveloped) harbour was (once again) promoted to be one of its major assets, but its continuing remoteness and lack of transport links to major centres, including Sydney and Melbourne, militated against Eden’s selection. (The need for Eden to have better transport connections has long been recognised – in Eden! Various attempts at various times to connect Eden by rail with Bega and to the Monaro have been advanced, but the economic benefits of building rail lines to or within the area simply cannot be established.)

The timber industry and the fishing industry have historically provided the mainstays to the town, although more minor industries such as dairying, brickmaking and small ship building have operated around the town from time to time.

Wattle bark (used for tanning) was exported to Sydney from the 1830s until at least the 1950s. From 1903 to 1954 sleeper cutting was a profitable and important industry to the town. Sawlogs, firewood and pulpwood (wood chips) have more recently been taken in significant quantities from surrounding forests. The Harris-Daishowa woodchip storage and exporting facility on the southern end of Twofold Bay has operated since 1971.

From 1940 to 1999 (initially at Curalo, just north of Eden, and from 1948 on the shores of Cattle Bay) canneries have operated processing local-caught salmon and tuna. These employed about 150 locals and provided employment on up to 40 tuna boats. In the early 1970s, Eden was also the largest supplier of fresh fish to the Sydney Fish Market and was a major supplier to the Melbourne Fish Market.

Domestic tourism, particularly more recently, has also provided a steady income to the town. It was hoped this would be significantly increased by the opening, in August 2019, of a major extension to the Eden Wharf that enabled large cruise ships to dock there – but bushfires in early 2020 and then Covid-19 postponed the expected tourism growth to the town. In very recent years that anticipated significant growth in the number of cruise ships visiting Eden has started to occur.

Sources: Wikipedia; aussietowns.com.au; Eden Timeline at www.eden.nsw.au/eden-timeline; H.P. Wellings,‘Eden and Twofold Bay. Discovery, History and Points of Interest. 1797 – 1953’

Picture: Loading Railway Sleepers on the ‘Bellinger’ at Quarantine Bay, Eden. Image: National Library of Australia, nla.obj-148645344-1